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SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch Rescheduled for Tuesday

SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket next launch from Florida’s Space Coast has been pushed back to Tuesday, April 9. The megarocket will lift off from historic Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying the Arabsat 6A communications satellite.

Although this is the second launch of the world’s most powerful rocket, it will be its first commercial mission. Its maiden launch was a demonstration flight on February 6, last year, when Elon Musk’s cherry-red  Roadster and a Starman dummy pilot were sent into space.

Continue reading “SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch Rescheduled for Tuesday”
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SpaceX Adds New Astronaut Walkway to Historic NASA Launch Pad

SpaceX is another step closer to crewed flight.

The private spaceflight company SpaceX installed an astronaut walkway at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida last Monday. The walkway will allow astronauts to get from the launch tower to SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship, which will sit atop SpaceX’s 230-foot-tall (70 meters) Falcon 9 rocket.

The 85-foot-long arm was delivered to the base of the Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on August 15. Five days later, it was raised by crane 265 feet above sea level, and there it was mounted to the space shuttle tower. Continue reading “SpaceX Adds New Astronaut Walkway to Historic NASA Launch Pad”

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SpaceX Seeks Expansion at KSC

SpaceX plans new facilities at KSC to support more launches and landings.
SpaceX is planning to expand its presence at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including a state-of-the-art launch control center, rocket refurbishment center and a Falcon 9, Dragon rocket garden, according to environmental impact documents filed to NASA a month ago.
The California-based company and its founder the billionaire Elon Musk, is currently well-established on the Space Coast with two launch pads, one at Kennedy Space Center and one at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and also a hangar at Port Canaveral.
Environmental impact documents reveal a proposal for a launch control tower up to 300 feet tall for launches and landings, a rocket garden to show off the company’s historic space vehicles, a new security office, a 280,000 square foot utility yard, and a 133,000 square foot rocket processing and storage facility. The proposed buildings and the associated lot would all be on a piece of land nearly one mile long by a half mile wide. Continue reading “SpaceX Seeks Expansion at KSC”

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SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Set for Sunday Now Delayed

SpaceX postpones Falcon 9 launch to conduct nose cone checks.

SpaceX has delayed its weekend launch of the Spanish communications satellite Hispasat 30W-6 to allow time for extra tests on the Falcon 9 rocket.

The Falcon 9 was scheduled to launch the satellite Sunday (Feb. 25) at 12:35 a.m. EST (0535 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. But on Saturday, SpaceX said it needed extra time to test the rocket’s payload fairing, the nose cone that protects satellites during flight. A new launch date has not been officially announced yet.

A SpaceX spokesman said they will try to land the rocket on their “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Continue reading “SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Set for Sunday Now Delayed”

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SpaceX Finally Launches Mysterious Zuma Spacecraft Into Orbit

After more than a month of delay, SpaceX successfully sends the secretive Zuma satellite to space.
The company completes its first launch of the year with its secretive mission and also manages to recover the Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX’s first successful Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year was probably the most secretive mission in the company’s history ever. The company also managed to recover the Falcon 9 rocket.

 

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SpaceX First Falcon Mega-rocket is at Launchpad 39A Ahead of Maiden Flight

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket was rolled out on launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday morning. SpaceX is preparing for the rocket’s maiden flight, which is scheduled for next month.
NASA confirmed that the mega rocket has been moved to Launchpad 39A and it will undergo various tests before it takes off. However, Musk’s company has not confirmed a launch date yet.
The first images of SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket were released Wednesday, showing the Falcon Heavy’s 27 Merlin 1D engines mounted on the back of three modified first stages from Falcon 9 rocket. The massive triple-core booster looked almost fully assembled inside the hangar at the Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A. Continue reading “SpaceX First Falcon Mega-rocket is at Launchpad 39A Ahead of Maiden Flight”

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SpaceX to Launch Korean Satellite on Monday

SpaceX is getting ready to launch a Koreasat 5A into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
The 2-hour, 24-minute launch window for the South Korean communications satellite opens at 3:34 p.m. This is the 16th flight that the Hawthorne, California-based company will perform in 2017.
If the liftoff from seaside Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral goes off without a hitch, it will mark the third time this month that SpaceX launches a rocket, twice from Florida.
According to the 45th Weather Squadron, which is based at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the probability of weather causing a delay is almost nonexistent with less than a 10 percent chance of violating mission rules and primary concern for strong winds at liftoff. Continue reading “SpaceX to Launch Korean Satellite on Monday”

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SpaceX Successfully Launches Air Force’s Space Plane on Secret Mission

SpaceX launched a mysterious Air Force X-37B space plane ahead of Irma’s arrival
Elon Musk’s space company can add another first to its ever-increasing list. Only two days ago, it successfully launched the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B experimental space plane. This is the first time for SpaceX to launch the X-37B, which has run four missions previously but the launch vehicle was always United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
The launch was scheduled for September 7 at Cape Canaveral, just days ahead of the potential landfall of Hurricane Irma and there is a chance to be postponed due to weather. Continue reading “SpaceX Successfully Launches Air Force’s Space Plane on Secret Mission”